Abstract: Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme which has reverse transcriptase activity. Increased telomerase activity may be very critical in the early steps of carcinogenesis. The human telomerase is composed of two important subunits including telomerase transcriptase protein （hTERT） and telomerase RNA template （hTERC）. Many studies showed both components were required for a functional telomerase holoenzyme. Recently many researches find that telomerase activity and hTERT/hTERC genomic instability are strongly associated events in the progression of uterine cervical dysplasia to invasive cancer. Such study in cervical cancer has been gradually carried out, which would provide new idea and means for early screening in cervical cancer.

Key words: Telomerase, Human telomerase reverse transcriptase, Human telomerase RNA, Cervical cancer